9:30 to 11:00 am - “Collaboration and the Politics of Reconciliation in Canada” (Position Papers)

How might the development of collaborative practices between Indigenous, racial minority, diasporic, settler, and other cultural communities convey a sense of shared historical accountability in establishing a meaningful politics of reconciliation in Canada? In five- to seven-minute statements, participants will consider the challenges and opportunities of collaborative work in the context of linking histories within and between Indigenous communities and other minority communities. How can connections be made between Indigenous and immigrant communities, without necessarily relying upon the historically over-determined figure of the white settler? In particular, to what extent can and should a dialogue on “reconciliation” in Canada, either through the Indian Residential Schools’ Truth and Reconciliation Commission or through other avenues, address the experience of diasporic subjects, some of whom may carry with them violent histories of dispossession, and many of whom are not familiar with and have had no exposure to the history of domestic colonialism in Canada, including the history of residential schools? Relationships between “immigrant” and “Indigenous” subjects raise questions regarding the colonization of land as well as the possibility of collaborating on projects geared toward decolonization.

The notion of apology, reconciliation, and redress has taken many forms in Canada, contingent on affected communities, but the overarching bridge is the connection to land. This groundbreaking new volume published by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (Volume 3 in the series) focuses on migrant/new Canadian perspectives, but with an understanding that such viewpoints need to be aware of what has come before them—specifically, Aboriginal populations and the history of the land that is determined not by colonizing definitions, but by pre-Contact awareness. Details about how the roundtable will be conducted are forthcoming from the moderators.